Analysis of the challenge
• Scope the issue or challenge – Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the issue or challenge. This is your introductory paragraph. What is the challenge you will analyze? Include the basic background information necessary to understand the issue/challenge. How is your topic related to access, quality and/or cost outcomes for the health system?
• Historical context – Providing a brief review of the historical context that influenced the emergence of this modern issue or challenge.
• PEST. Use the PEST framework to analyze the influences that are impacting your topic now and could impact your topic in the future. What are the political & legal, economic, sociocultural and technological trends or forecasts that currently impact or may influence your topic in the future? You should have at least 3 observations in each of the PEST categories. Remember an observation should identify a change, trend or forecast supported by cited evidence and then evaluate the impact on your topic/challenge. You can integrate visual aids to organize this information as we did in class. I have provided an example below (please note this is just a rough template – you can choose to communicate your PEST in any way you find most effective. Make sure if you use a table it is well formatted and visually appealing):
PEST Analysis
Political & Legal • Example: The Supreme Court just ruled on the XX case that [identify the relevant change or impact] (cite your source). This [change] will positively/adversely impact [your topic/challenge] because….
• Observation #2 with cited evidence
• Observation #3 with cited evidence
Economic
Sociocultural
Technological
• Draw inferences and synthesize your analysis – Before you move on to your recommendation, connect the insights and observations across your discussion of the historical context and the PEST to identify and describe opportunities and/or threats that your topic contributes to or creates? Looking across your analyses, what is really important? What are the common themes or relevant systemic impacts that are central to understanding this topic and motivate your recommendations?
3. Offer Recommendations
• Make recommendations along the health system value chain using sound, logical argumentation. Offer comprehensive, multi-faceted, evidence-based recommendations to the challenge you have analyzed. Your recommendations may be drawn from alternatives proposed by reputable experts (cite your sources), ideas from other industries or countries (cite your sources), or alternatives you have developed that are supported by evidence-based reasoning. Your recommendations should be integrated along the value chain. For example, if you make a coverage recommendation in Financing Activities (e.g., Medicare should cover X), you then need to make sure you are also going to make recommendations for how to expand delivery of that service (Delivery activities) and possibly even how to train providers or develop new technology to support delivery of that activity (Supply activities). In other words, think through the ripple effects of your recommendations across the entire value chain.
• Use Stakeholder analysis to evaluate your recommendations. How do your recommendations impact stakeholders? You should look across a variety of stakeholder groups, identify their interests and priorities related to your topic and then identify how your recommendations may create areas of possible alignment and/or conflict among stakeholders. Again, you can use visual aids to organize this information.
E.g.:
Stakeholder Interests/Priorities Potential Alignment/Conflict with your recommendation
Stakeholder Group X • Interest/Priority #1 with cited evidence
• Interest/Priority #1 with cited evidence
4. Persuasive conclusion. Provide some concluding thoughts that clearly connect your recommendation to the challenge that you identified.